Birthday Bliss...

My little cutie's couldn't wait for their birthday breakfast of
yummy crepes!

~we sang to them with the #6 candle on their crepe.
 {that's what they wanted so bad!}

~had a school party with their friends, while I presented their posterboards & treats!
{they were the 'star students'}

~enjoyed their favorite "spaghetti w meatballs" dinner with our cousins, made by dad.
DELICIOUS!

it was such a fun day!

****

Another wonderful & crazy thing about boy/girl twins is their birthday parties.  

i love to keep them together but branched out last year and did separate

 parties for them but at the same time.  

Fun, but a little crazy having all the kids together,  plus i really 

wanted to enjoy them at their own party.  So we did separate days this year. 

 Olivia was first...

 we had a darling little tea party for her. 

 We just love "Dear Lizzie" & thought it would 

be just perfect for our girl to have an afternoon tea with her 

friends for her "sixth" birthday! 

she loved it!  {mom loved it~wink}

the girls ate turkey sandwiches and cupcakes while drinking their tea. 

the table was decorated so darling and the girls came all dressed up.

pretty stinkin adorable if you ask me!

The Invitations to the 'tea party'

cute little crowns with the girls initial on them...

the treats at the table...

the favors to the girls

the darling little girls... 

all livi wanted for her birthday was for her daddy to shave his beard. 

so she helped him shave it off.  doesn't he look so handsome?!!

such a softy of a dad.

Ivy and Hayes kept switching spots at the table.

i love how Hayes could care less that he was the only boy there.  We were actually all sitting next to their table with our own drinks adoring the girls tea party {boston thoroughly playing his rubix cube}, but hayes had a spot if he wanted to sit with them and good thing he did, because the girls took a while to warm up and talk to eachother, and hayes got colee giggling like crazy.  

He's good for some entertainment when you need it!

girl parties are so much different than boys. 

 Girls really are sugar & spice and everything nice...

scroll down to the next post to see Hayes' party we had the next morning!!

"Calling all SUPERHEROES!"

My little hayes-ie bugs had such a fun "superhero" party!

Hayes' favorite place is 'jump on it' and we had a blast flipping and jumping with

 friends and a surprise appearance from ...

"Batman"

Batman was so awesome,  he did backflips and jumped with the kids. Played tag with

 them and showed them how he learned all his sweet 'bat tricks' then he told 

them to follow him so they could jump off of tall buildings!

 it was Perfect! They loved him!

I made all these superhero capes for the kids with the initial "H" for Hayes aka {Hero}  

and i must admit it was so worth it seeing all these superheroes 

jumping around with those capes on.  My friend Stacia made the awesome cake,

 she's got some serious skillz!

and i promise i did not rent out the whole place... i just love how No one was there but us!!

such a fun day for my boy...

"SIX" years old today!

Happy Birthday to my angels!  

 these two keep me smiling, help me to love stronger and definitely pull at my heartstrings.

they're our babies. 

 We have babied them since birth, and they still try to grow up. {wink}

my darling friend katie from "peekaboo" took these pictures.  

{more coming soon}

these two have been counting down the sleeps until Today, 

they even made their own chain link advent calendar to their birthday.  They love kindergarten,

 have so many fun friends and are each others best friend.  

We feel so blessed to have them healthy and with us here today, they are true little miracles! 

Six years ago I made many promises to their brother parker, and i hope 

i'm holding up my end of the bargain. 

~we miss him dearly.

Some of Livi's favorites...

playing with friends {she loves friends}

dancing

riding bikes & scooters 

math {she's doing 1st grade math!}

reading~she is always sounding out stuff 

my favorite thing about Olivia is she is always trying to make us happy, 

she loves to come help me in the kitchen with cleaning or cooking. You can give her a chore and she will ALWAYS be the first one to get right to it and finish her job. No complaining. 

 She brightens her dad's day with her laugh.  He melts for those giggles.

He is such a softy when it comes to his princess.  

she's such a fun daughter, always smiling and still so so sweet.

 some of Hayes' favorites...

loves playing his DS

xbox with boston

wrestling with his buddies

football

riding bikes

hanging out at home {total home body}

he loves his pretend stories at night from dad! i love hearing the giggling 

when cory tells him a bedtime story.

he still loves little figurines & can play for hours with tiny things, he is so imaginitive! This boy is hilarious.  he always keeps us laughing and he and boston have become such cute little buddies.  

Hayes is crazy, fun, hyper & also very sensitive.  He gives the best hugs to momma!

he loves loves loves his baby sister ivy.  

happy birthday my loves, i cannot imagine life without you...

xxoo, mom

must be Santa...

yep, it's the real deal at the "riverwoods."

Santa is jolly, round and plump and free horse carraige rides too!

darling 

darling 

darling.

 we went to see Santa with the Birchall's on the opening night when

 they lit the lights and Donny Osmond gave the countdown.

it was awesome.

even ivy loved him!

Santa asked them what they wanted...

Boston~xbox kinect

Hayes~snowboard {were still wondering where he got that idea. haha}

Olivia~nintendo Dsi 

Ivy~iphone ... she is crackin us up! 

advent calendar.

My kids love our Advent Calendar.  

It's old and small, but we've had it since they were babies.  They love to open each

 day and find a treat/toy/ring/straws etc.

{dollar store ;)}

I think i love it most, because i can use it for leverage with making beds and cleaning! ha

 I can't tell you enough how wonderful it is to have an extra {excited} helper in the house that loves to get the little ones excited about Christmas!  Boston is totally into placing buddy {our elf} in certain spots. 

 my favorite was this morning, buddy was sitting by the advent calendar and had a special note in hand.

my kids were dying with excitement.  And totally Boston's idea.  

Now that is Stinkin cute!

we've been having a blast with our emails from Santa!  

Seriously so cute for your little ones...click here to see what i mean.

The "LIVE" Nativity...

in Alpine Utah!

The story of how this came about is beautiful... you can read all about it here.  

 It's wonderful!

we didn't have to wait in line very long.  

But while we were waiting for the horse trailer to take us up to the barns

 my little hayes was smiling so big and told livi "yeah we get to go see Jesus and Parker!" 

he was so excited! 

I guess i didn't explain it very well.  It was kinda sad that i had to tell him it's 

just someone acting the parts to the baby Jesus.  I just love that boy!  his heart is gold!

this was such a cool thing especially for my kids to see.  We met shepherds along the way who told us the story how there was no room at the inn.

while we were walking to bethlehem we saw Roman soldiers on horses acting the part.  

the first barn was filled with camels, and shepherds with donkeys and all sorts of people working {making baskets, pottery, leather, etc..} then you walk out to hear beautiful caroling coming from the second barn where you see Mary Joseph and the baby Jesus.

it was Awesome!

so perfect and fitting this time of year.

there were thousands of people there.  so cool!

this goes on every year and all donations go to the huntsman cancer foundation!

 these pictures are from Cory's phone because my camera died! Ugh... still so cute.

my son...

who is  eleven years old is extremely self disciplined, 

we don't know where he got it! 

{maybe aunt holli~wink} 

...just finished reading the "Book of Mormon"  

he rocks!  

i told  him I would read it with him and i am still in 2nd Nephi! haha

{we've been reading the new testament~wink}

he is growing up to be such an amazing kid, he teaches us so much everyday!

Cory & I always ask ourselves..."how did we get this kid?"  

he truly is always doing what's right, and just an amazing boy. 

 I hate that he is growing up so fast, but love who he is growing into.

love this boy!

Dr. Hammond & Ellis...

 our fabulous Dentists.

they had their annual Christmas Party!

  Olivia had dance so it was fun for me to hang out with hayes and ivy and ice skate with them. 

 Ivy wouldn't let me put her down, so i lasted about 20 minutes carrying her until i was 

told she has to be on the ice. Which then did not go well so we were done skating. stinker.  haha

So Hayes hung out with Boston and Cam and was doing great!  By the end of the party he was doing 360's with his little walker! haha

we got to see santa, and eat donuts and Hot chocolate.  

he has arrived...

at our house!

remember me posting about this tradition?  

oh how i love traditions.

Well every year the elves come and drop off a treat of some sort to the kids to let 

them know he is watching to see if they are naughty or nice.  

 We have our own elf named "Buddy" who comes and stays in our 

home and leaves at night to tell santa all the good things we have done!!  

WE love him!  

Since my littles love wearing their Jammies 

{they literally change right into them when they walk in from School}

he brought their Christmas jammies early so they can enjoy them this whole Christmas Season.  

Thanks Buddy!

look how happy hayes is to see 'buddy'...